Latch for railway hatch covers



Dec. 14, 1943.

H. G. PELLNITZ LATCH FOR RAILWAY HATCH COVERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Z I I N HI II I I I 1 n |||||||||H|I||| lq lNVENTOR Mama): 5. Feiznz'z MamATTORNEY Filed June 6, 1942 VM W Dec. 14, 1943. H. G. PELLNITZ LATCH FORRAILWAY HATCH COVERS Filed June 6, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR IHag/r2422 di /[ml ATTORNEY r I 6,619 I n Dec. 14, 1943. H. G. PELLNITZLATCH FOR RAILWAY HATCH COVERS Filed June's, 1942 :5 Sheets-Sheet 3 I'llIII/III Patented Dec. 14, 1943 LATCH FOR RAILWAY HATCH COVERS Herman G.Pellnitz, Nescopeck, Pa., assignor to American Car and Foundry Company,New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 6, 1942,Serial No. 446,115

'7 Claims.

This invention relates to railway cars in general and in particular tolatches for batch covers of covered railway hopper cars.

In recent years a large number of commodities have been shipped in bulkin covered railway hopper cars, thus speeding up both the loading andunloading of the commodity and obviating the necessity of individualcontainers, sacks, etc. A large number of these covered hopper cars havebeen provided with individual latches for each hatch cover, thusnecessitating extreme care on the part of the parties filling the car inorder that all hatches would be closed and sealed to prevent damage tothe commodity. Recently latches have been built to operate a pluralityof locks for a plurality of hatch covers, but the operating means forthese latches has been of necessity located near the side of the carthereby requiring the operator to leave the running board and walk onthe car roof sheets. tremely dangerous and also time-consuming since theoperator would have to go from one side of the car to the other. It isan object, therefore, of the present invention to provide latch meansfor a covered hopper car in which the operating means for the latchesare located adjacent the running board and operable therefrom.

It is a further object of the invention to provide latch means for thehatch covers located on opposite sides of the running board andcontrollable in multiple by operating means located on the same side ofthe running board a the hatch covers.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of latch meansfor the batches of covered hopper cars which latch means are operable inindependent pairs located on opposite sides of the running board,

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to personsskilled in the art from a study of the following description andaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of substantiallyonehalf of the roof of a covered hopper car;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

This is exsheets [2 by means of an angle 14, all as clearly Fig. 3 is asectional view taken substantially on line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 44 of Fig. 1 andshowing the latches shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Certain of the roof sheetsare solid, While others are formed With.

openings provided by flanging upwardly portions of the roof sheet toform a hatch frame [6. The hatch frame, as clearly shown in the figures,is formed with a vertically extending web portion [8, a horizontal upperflange and a downwardly extending reflanged portion 22. The roof is alsoprovided with roof grab irons 24 and a longitudinally extending runningboard 26 secured in any suitable manner to the roof sheets. The roofalso is provided with reinforcing bars 28 secured on the upper surfacethereof and adapted to provide striking surfaces against which thelifting handles of the hatch covers may strike, thereby preventingdamage to the roof sheets.

Each of the hatch openings is normally covered by a hatch cover 30which, in the present instance, is formed as a flat plate havingdownwardly diverging side flanges 32 adapted to overlap the reflangedportions of the hatch frames in providing a weather seal. Each of thehatch covers has attached thereto a lifting handle 34 and hinge straps36. The hinge straps engage and are carried by pivot pins 38 carried byhinge butt castings 40 securely fastened to the roof of the car, asclearly shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 5. The hatch covers, as more clearlyshown in Fig. 5, are reinforced against bending by means of an angleiron frame 42 located inwardly from the side flanges of the cover.

In order to lock the covers in position covering the hatch openings orto release the covers for opening, latches are provided. These latcheseach comprise latch rods pivotally carried by brackets 52 welded orotherwise secured to the hatch frames. Each of the latch rods has weldedor otherwise secured thereto latches 54 swingable upon rotation of therod toward or away from the free or adjacent edge of the hatch cover.

The inner ends of each latch rod have rigidly secured thereto, such asby welding, spaced plates 56 which constitute cranks to cause operationof the latch rods. The ends of the cranks 56 remote from the latch rodsare pierced to receive a pivot pin or bolt 58. These pivot pins or boltssupport one end of an operating link 60, the other end of which ispivotally mounted upon a pivot pin or bolt 62. The operating links 60 ofadjacent latches extend toward each other for connection to the pivotpins 62. As clearly shown in Figs. 4, 6 and 7, the pivot pins 62 arecarried upon the ends of an arm 64 rigidly connected to a pivot rod 56journaled in spaced brackets 68, rigidly attached to the roof sheetsthrough the medium of a base member 10. The pivot rod has rigidlyconnected thereto between the brackets 68 an operating bar 12 having ahandle portion 14. The operating bar, when in hatch cover lockingposition, is located between the upstanding legs 16 of angle formmembers secured to the car roof. These'upstanding legs of the angle formmembers, as well as the operating bar 12, are pierced to receive alocking pin 80 having an opening 82 for reception of a seal. Loss of thelocking pin is prevented, as is customary, by means of a carrying chain84.

It will be seen from the preceding description that the latches for thehatch covers are connected together in pairs on either side of therunning board, with the operating means for each pair located adjacentto and accessible from the running board, thereby permitting theoperator to work the latches from the running board. It will also beseen that the operator can, if desired, simultaneously operate two pairof latches since the operating handles are located adjacent each r otheralthough on opposite sides of the running board. The latches have beenshown as con nected together in pairs, but it will be obvious that theymay, if desired, be connected together in threes or fours or in anyother manner desired. It will be obvious that it is only necessary foran operator to remove the locking pin and lift upwardly on the handle 14and swing the same through an arc of approximately 180 degrees in aplane parallel to the running board in order that the latches ofadjacent hatch covers be released. During lifting of the operatinghandle the pivot pins 62 will impart a thrust to links 60 which in turnwill, through the cranks 56, cause rotation of the latch rods, therebyswinging the latches out of engagement with the hatch covers. When thehatch covers are. fully unlocked the component parts of the latchmechanism will be in the position shown by Fig. 7 and the hatch coversmay be lifted. Movement of the operating handle in the oppositedirection will cause a reversal of the movement just described and causethe latches to be swung toward the hatch covers to lock the same inposition on the hatch frames.

While the invention has been described more or less in detail, it willbe obvious that various modifications and rearrangements of parts may bemade by persons skilled in the art and all such normally covering saidopenings and being swingable longitudinally of the car to expose saidopenings, latch rods extending transversely of the car adjacent the freeedges of said hatch covers, latches secured to each latch rod andswingable toward and away from the adjacent hatch cover to lock orrelease the same, cranks fixed on the inner ends of said latch rods, andmeans located adjacent said running board and joining adjacent cranks onthe same side of the running board together for simultaneous movementthereby causing simultaneous swinging of said latches to lock or releasethe hatch covers, said means being manually operable from a position onthe running board and swinging parallel to said running board wherebysaid running board is unobstructed at all times.

2. In a railway car construction, a car roof, a running board secured tothe roof, hatch frames outlining a plurality of openings in the roof oneither side of said running board, hatch covers normally covering saidopenings and bein swingable longitudinally of the car to expose saidopenings, latch rods extending transversely of the car adjacent the freeedges of said hatch covers, latches secured to each latch rod andswingable toward and away from the adjacent hatch cover to lock orrelease the same, cranks fixed on the inner ends of said latch rods,links connected to said cranks and positioned substantially parallel tosaid running board, and operatin means joining certain of said linkstogether for simultaneous movement thereby causing simultaneous swingingof said latches to lock or release the hatch covers, said operatingmeans being manually operable from the running board and swingableparallel thereto whereby said running board is unobstructed at alltimes.

3. In a railway car construction, a car roof, a running board secured tothe roof, hatch frames outlining a plurality of openings in the roof oneither side of said running board, hatch covers normally covering saidopenings and being swingable longitudinally of the car to expose saidopenings, latch rods extending transversely of the car adjacent the freeedges of said hatch covers, latches secured to each latch rod andswingable toward and away from the adjacent hatch cover to lock orrelease th same, cranks fixed on the inner ends of said latch rods,independent links positioned substantially parallel to said runningboard on either side thereof and being connected to said cranks,independent operating means adjacent either side of said running boardand connecting adjacent links on the same side of the running boardtogether for simultaneous movement thereby causing simultaneous swingingof said latches to lock or release the hatch covers, said operatingmeans being manually operable from the running board and swingableparallel thereto whereby said running board is unobstructed at alltimes.

4. In a railway car construction, a car roof, a

running board secured to the roof, said roof incover hingedly connectedto said roof and normally covering said openings and bein swingablelongitudinally of the car to expose said openings, latch rods carried bysaid roof and extending transversely of the roof adjacent the free edgesof said hatch covers, latches secured to each latch rod and swingabletoward and away from the adjacent hatch cover to lock o release thesame, cranks secured to said latch rod adjacent the running board, andoperating means carried by said roof and joining adjacent crankstogether for simultaneous movement to thereby cause simultaneousswinging of said latches to lock or release the hatch covers, saidoperating means being manually operable from the running board andswingable parallel thereto whereby said running board is unobstructed atall times.

5. In a railway car construction, a car roof, hatch frames outliningopenings in the roof, a running board secured to the roof, said roofineluding-a plurality of hatch covers hingedly con nected to the roofand normally covering said openings, latches swingable longitudinally ofthe car toward and away from the adjacent cover to lock or release thesame, and latch operating means joining said latches together forsimultaneous movement and including an operating handle located adjacentsaid runnin board and swingable in a plane substantially parallelthereto whereby said running board is unobstructed and said latches maybe manually operated from the running board.

6. In a railway car construction, a, car roof, hatch frames outliningopenings in the roof, 2. running board secured to the roof, said roofincluding a plurality of hatch covers hingedly connected to the roof andnormall covering said openings, latches swingable longitudinally of thecar toward and away from the adjacent cover to lock or release the same,and latch operating means joining said latches together for simultaneousmovement and including an operatin handle located adjacent said runninboard and swingable in a plane substantially parallel there'- to, saidhatch frames being located on either side of said running board and saidlatch operating means being also located on either side of and adjacentsaid running board and wholly independent of each other.

7. In a railway car construction, a car roof, a running board secured tothe roof, a plurality of hatch frames outlining openings in the roof oneach side of said running board, a plurality of hatch covershingedlyconnected to the roof and normally covering said openings,independent latch means carried by the roof and movable into and out ofengagement with said hatch covers to lock and release the same, and aplurality of oper-- ating means adjacent and swinging parallel to therunning board on either side thereof and connecting said latch meanstogether in independent pairs located upon opposite sides of saidrunning board.

HERMAN G. PELLNITZ.

